[Scott R]

I forgot I had this list for you, it's nothing special really I just asked one of our desktop support guys and he sent me this, likely from some internet source.

For performance issues, there are a few things you can check before resorting to hardware upgrades:

Remove any non-essential apps from System Preferences > Accounts > yourusername > Login Items
(Lion users: System Preferences > Users & Groups > yourusername > Login Items)

Remove any non-essential items from /Library/LaunchAgents/ and ~/Library/LaunchAgents/
(Lion users: In Finder, click Go > Go to Folder > then enter the path)

Remove any non-essential items from /Library/StartupItems/
(Lion users: In Finder, click Go > Go to Folder > then enter the path)

Remove any non-essential widgets you may have running, and uninstall any you don't need anymore.

Launch Activity Monitor and change "My Processes" at the top to "All Processes", then click on the CPU column heading once or twice, so the arrow points downward (highest values on top). Then look to see what may be consuming system resources.

Launch Activity Monitor and click the System Memory tab at the bottom to check your page outs. Page outs are cumulative since your last restart, so the best way to check is to restart your computer and track page outs under your normal workload (the apps, browser pages and documents you normally would have open). If your page outs are significant (say 1GB or more) under normal use, you may benefit from more RAM.

Make sure you're not running any 3rd party antivirus app, as many of those will drain resources, reducing performance. They're not needed to protect your Mac. For more information, read the Mac Virus/Malware FAQ.

Install ClickToFlash (Safari), Flashblock (Firefox) or FlashBlock (Chrome) to control which Flash content plays on websites.

Find your Flash version and make sure it's the latest version available.

Use the YouTube HTML5 Video Player for watching YouTube videos, when available. (May impact fullscreen viewing. See link for details.) Not all YouTube videos are available in HTML5, but when they are, it will reduce demand on system resources.

Ad-blockers such as GlimmerBlocker will reduce the resource demands of loading webpages.

Check your DNS settings by reading this.

Maintain sufficient free space on your hard drive. 10% free space is good. More is better.

Disable or remove unnecessary or corrupt fonts using Font Book, which is in your Applications folder.

Turn off resources like Bluetooth or WiFi, when you're not using them.

Go to System Preferences > Dock and select Minimize using: Scale Effect. Uncheck "Animate opening applications".

Make sure your built-in Mac firewall is enabled in System Preferences > Security > Firewall

Uncheck "Open "safe" files after downloading" in Safari > Preferences > General

Uncheck "Enable Java" in Safari > Preferences > Security. Leave this unchecked until you visit a trusted site that requires Java, then re-enable only for your visit to that site. (This is not to be confused with JavaScript, which you should leave enabled.)

Be careful to only install software from trusted, reputable sites. Never install pirated software. If you're not sure about an app, ask in this forum before installing.

Never let someone else have physical access to install anything on your Mac.

Always keep your Mac and application software updated. Use Software Update for your Mac software. For other software, it's safer to get updates from the developer's site or from the menu item "Check for updates", rather than installing from any notification window that pops up while you're surfing the web.

Check the above for all user accounts that may be logged in. Log out any user accounts that aren't being currently used.